


white sleeves

by cave_canem



Category: All For The Game - Nora Sakavic
Genre: I have No Excuse, M/M, and finding presents, and some fluff, i don't know anymore guys, it's mostly kevin and neil's friendship, this is... absolutely unseasonal
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-11
Updated: 2018-04-11
Packaged: 2019-04-21 17:45:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,047
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14290074
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cave_canem/pseuds/cave_canem
Summary: It was Nicky who forced them all in the car on an apparently random Saturday, with empty threats, a good deal of supplication, and endless streaks of “Neil. Neil. Neil. Neil.” which got on everyone nerves, even his own.Neil Josten's first Christmas at PSU means one thing: presents and an unplanned trip to the Christmas market.





	white sleeves

**Author's Note:**

> Catherine, why are you writing a Christmas fic in the middle of spring, you ask? I... have no answer. I don't know. I'm as confused as you guys. Thanks for reading, though!

It was Nicky who forced them all in the car on an apparently random Saturday, with empty threats, a good deal of supplication, and endless streaks of “Neil. Neil. Neil. Neil.” which got on everyone nerves, even his own.

Neil managed to outlast Nicky the fifth time he did it by turning on the shower, choosing to wash his hair for the second time in as many days just so the water would flow over his ears.

“What the fuck are you doing?” was the first thing he heard when he stepped out of the stall, almost relaxed. The voices were right outside the bathroom door but Neil pretended he was alone in the world as he dried and dressed as slowly as possible.

“Neil—I’m ensuring you have a good Christmas, Aaron Joseph Minyard, and if you had one sentimental bone in your body you’d be right there with me—Neil—”

“I’m going to Katelyn’s for Christmas,” Aaron answered. “That’s really not your doing.”

“Aw, you _are_ sentimental!”

“Fuck off.”

Neil bit on his tongue and tugged on his armbands under his shirt just as Nicky called, “Wait, help me convince him, please!”

“Alright,” he said, opening the door right in Nicky’s face. “What do you want?”

“I’ve literally talked about nothing else in the past two days,” Nicky said. “there’s a Christmas market in town.”

“You’re going back to Germany in two days.”

“So?”

“So, the Christmas markets are way better over there than in the middle of South Carolina, everyone knows that,” Aaron said from the nearby kitchen, voicing Neil’s thoughts.

“Oh, come on,” Nicky said. “If I don’t force you to do your Christmas shopping now no one of you will have presents for the Secret Santa when we get back. Don’t roll your eyes, you know I’m right.” Nicky gestured to the living room, where they could hear the sounds of an old exy rerun. “Even Kevin drew a name, and he’ll spend his break with Abby and Coach, when will he have time to shop?”

“You do know that Amazon exists, don’t you,” Aaron said.

For once, Neil was glad for Aaron and his dislike of any activities that forced him to spend too much time sober and out of the court with the rest of the Foxes. He didn’t even have to prepare counter-arguments for Nicky’s ridiculous propositions.

“Oh, come on,” Nicky said, with a frustrated gesture. “I want to go, I think it could be fun, and I don’t wanna spend the first day of my vacation holed up in the house. Why can’t we decide to consider it instead of fighting my ideas all the time?”

Aaron didn’t say anything. Kevin’s head disappeared back into the living room. Neil looked at Nicky and weighted pros and cons, then threw logic out of the window.

“I’ve never been to a Christmas market when I was in Germany,” he said.

Nicky beamed.

* * *

 

Once Neil was on board, the others were too: Aaron because he didn’t want to stay alone with Andrew, and Kevin because he claimed he had nothing else to do. Neil glanced at the TV when he passed into the den: it was an old rerun of UPenn being slaughtered by the Ravens. He wondered how Kevin had held twenty-three minutes before bursting, then he grudgingly upped Dobson one step on his mental esteem scale. Kevin had still been struggling with Riko’s death and the fall of the Ravens at the beginning of the semester: but the therapist Dobson had recommended and Kevin forced himself to see seemed to be doing her job.

Neil went upstairs to let Andrew know they were going while the others looked around for their coats and money. He knocked on the bedroom’s closed door but knew he would come bearing old news: noise from downstairs floated clearly into Andrew’s room, even with a closed door.

“We’re going,” Neil said anyway, stepping up to the bed where Andrew laid, eyes on his phone. “I don’t suppose I can ask you to accompany us?”

Andrew leveled him with a flat look but scooted up the bed when Neil sat down, giving him some room.

“What are you doing?” Neil asked, forgetting for a moment that the others were waiting downstairs. He never saw Andrew on his phone: he was almost the only person Andrew ever messaged, and his calls were always brief and to the point.

“Playing,” Andrew said, and held up the phone. There was a sound almost immediately and the screen flashed with the usual message: “Game over! Click to try again.”

Andrew pressed a button, then sat up on his elbow and inclined the phone so Neil could see the screen. A little line started moving across the screen, turning left or right with Andrew’s command. He recognized the game as a mind-numbing pastime he’d played for a short time as a child, before his mother beat the message into him that phones were for emergencies only. He watched as Andrew narrowly avoided colliding the two extremities of the snake that had progressively grown longer. The other Foxes would have a fit if they saw it: they moaned about Neil’s old dinosaur phone enough.

Andrew held out the phone to Neil when he lost, almost a full minute later. Neil clicked as per the instructions on the screen, but he lasted almost no time at all. He blinked at the screen, watching his snake eat its own tail with surprising disappointment.

“Do you think it’s on my phone too?” he asked, because he’d been working on processing through his most mundane thoughts and desires.

“Yes,” Andrew said. He took back the phone but didn’t load another game, placing it closed on the bed next to him.

Neil realized Andrew was still half-sitting up, looking up at Neil with that slow, intense look he got sometimes. Because he wanted to, Neil leaned down and stopped a hair-width away from Andrew’s mouth, waiting for him to close the distance. Andrew’s lips were slightly chapped but soft against Neil’s mouth. He leaned away when he heard Aaron trudging up the stairs and pass their door on the way to his room.

“You should drink more water,” he said, looking at the empty chocolate mug on the bedside table.

“You should leave before Nicky bursts in and I have to kill him,” Andrew said, settling back against his pillow. He snagged Neil’s and used it to prop his own with a pointed look.

“He wouldn’t dare,” Neil said. “I’ll bring you back something to eat.”

“Donuts.”

Neil hummed. “Glazing?”

“Powdered sugar.”

Nicky didn’t comment on Neil’s lateness as he stepped outside well after the others and took his time adjusting the driver’s seat, but he was back to chatting a mile a minute as soon as they drove out of their neighborhood. He directed Neil with imprecise indications and once forced Neil to brake so hard he almost hit his nose on Kevin’s headrest.

“You might want to park in a side street,” Nicky said as they approached the square the market was held in.

There was bumper-to-bumper traffic and barriers to create a car-free space in the streets around it, with traffic agents in reflective vests. The sight of them made Neil scowl from habit and he slipped into a side street as soon as he could, snatching up a parking spot from a family van.

“Meet back here at six?” Neil suggested as they stepped under the white wooden arch covered in fake-snow that marked the entrance.

Nicky rolled his eyes. “Neil, we all have phones here. Can yours even call?”

“It’s the only thing it can do,” Aaron said. He’d gotten the latest phone from a classmate a few weeks earlier and been insufferable about it since then. Neil had only grown more possessive of his old sturdy phone. He’d chucked it across the room or swiped it down from Andrew’s top bunk enough time to be glad the screen was small and hidden, unlike his classmates’.

“Ooh, here’s a German bakery stand,” Nicky said. “C’mon, we’ll find something for the Millers. Go shop you two!”

He left half-dragging Aaron behind him and shooing away Kevin and Neil towards the other stalls. Neil looked around. There was a decent crowd milling around, but considerably less children than he’d seen at the mall these past weeks, and the open air and small wooden kiosks gave it a more welcoming air.

“It doesn’t look too bad,” he said; Kevin threw him an almost pitying look and left towards the first stand.

Neil followed. Since he was there, he had better do what Nicky suggested and buy presents for Christmas. The problem was, Neil had never celebrated Christmas or any occasion that could have provided him with useful gift-giving skills, and he had no idea where to start.

Since the team had grown, the Foxes had opted for Secret Santa this year, and gathered money for presents for Wymack and Abby. That reduced the number of gifts Neil actually had to put thought into, but the downside of it was that he had no idea what to get Dan.

He strolled the alleys leisurely, looking at the objects displayed with curiosity spurred by boredom. He discarded the slipper stall without approaching it, stayed behind to look at the wood-carving one, and spotted the diverse food-related booths to be sure to stop by before they left.

At some point he grew cold and bought a too-sweet hot chocolate from a talkative man who tried to sell him half of his stack of chocolate. Neil refused first, then took a sip of his chocolate, almost gagging on it. He took out a twenty and left with a bulging bag of chocolate in all its state: bars, candies, irregular little rocks with nuts in them, and a can of powder for cocoa mixes.

Presents were easy, in the end, Neil thought as he continued strolling.

He saw Aaron stopped at a jewelry stand, looking at rings, and he slipped away before he could be seen, only to bump into Nicky at the honey stall.

“Neil, you’ve bought something!” he said. He already had three bags looped around his arm. “Can I see? Unless it’s for me.”

He was peering in before Neil could say no and let out a small laugh.

“Oh, Neil, you big sap,” Nicky said. He ruffled his hair and disappeared back into the crowd.

“Alright,” Neil muttered under his breath. He checked the time only to see he had a little under an hour before going back. He didn’t have a present for Dan and he was growing tired of the crowd, even though it had thinned since night had fallen. He sat down on a bench to finish his chocolate, leaving the dregs of powder at the bottom, and chucked the paper cup into the nearest bin.

Neil saw the exy racquets stuck above the kiosk’s slanted roof first, then Kevin’s coat. Neil blinked once: it wasn’t the kind of booth he’d expected to see at a Christmas market, but he guessed it made sense, since Columbia had its own collegiate and pro teams. Still, seeing Kevin engrossed with the woman at the till was just too familiar a sight that Neil wondered for a brief moment if Kevin’s presence had conjured the stall into existence. He huffed and joined Kevin at the glove shelf.

“Unless you drew my name, that’s not where you’ll find a Christmas gift.”

Kevin didn’t even jump, although he was absorbed in a big tag sewn onto one of the gloves. Neil didn’t fault him for seeking familiarity: he’d had almost as few occasions for holidays celebrations as Neil in his life.

“I got Allison,” he said.

“Then you really need to find another booth.”

“I’ve already got a present for her,” Kevin snapped. “Did you think I was there all this time?”

“Yes.”

Kevin didn’t roll his eyes, but it looked like a near-thing.

“I’m looking for Thea.”

Neil glanced around at the gear spread in display. It wasn’t particularly impressive, but there was quality brands and original designs, which Neil supposed could appeal to some people.

“It’s not very romantic,” he said after a while, because he thought that it was something Allison and her relationship advice would say. Or maybe not. He wasn’t very good at this.

“What did you get Andrew?”

“His weight in chocolate,” Neil answered, holding up the bag though he knew Kevin would disapprove. Sure enough, the frown on Kevin’s forehead deepened. “He likes chocolate.”

“Thea likes exy.”

There was no arguing with that kind of logic, so Neil admired a pile of exy-shaped stress balls in leather, noting the irregularities and the little tag that said they were handmade. He’d turned on keyrings when Kevin finally brought a pair of gloves to the till, taking in the astronomical price without blinking.

The gloves weren’t functional, not fitting any of the ERC’s regulations on color and design, but Neil thought maybe that wasn’t the point. Kevin was very gentle when he slid the wrapped present into a bag, smoothing down the awkward bulk of it.

“Find me a donut stand,” Neil told Kevin as they slipped back into the market’s crowd.

Kevin sighed but did as he was told, using his height to point Neil into the right direction, and didn’t say anything as they watched the donut deep fry before them.

“So who did you draw?” Kevin asked. It was only a quarter to six, so they loitered close to the entrance.

“Dan,” Neil said. “And no, I’m not buying her something exy-related.”

“I was going to say Foxes, not exy,” Kevin protested.

“She’s always taking pictures,” Neil thought out loud. “Maybe a camera?”

He looked around, hoping to conjure an electronics stand the same way he’d thought Kevin had done with the exy stall, but the market mostly sold hand-crafted pieces.

“That’s above budget,” Kevin said. “But I can tell you where to look.”

Neil was surprised for the second it took him to remember Kevin’s old room at Evermore, the postcards and the labelled pictures on the shelves above his bed. He hadn’t seen a camera there, but it could have been hidden, or destroyed. Why hadn’t Kevin still gotten a new one? He’d replaced most of the history books he’d left. But PSU wasn’t an ideal photographic destination; Kevin had mostly taken photos of his travels with Riko and his different teams, historical landmarks. Neil remembered Greek ruins and the bitter thought that their experience of Greece must have been a very different one.

“You should get a new camera,” he said.

Kevin glanced at him. His surprise was obvious, but misplaced.

“After,” he said. It sounded repeated, like a mantra or a promise.

He was scanning the crowd for Nicky or Aaron when he saw a woman with her daughter, stopped a few paces away from Kevin and Neil so the mother could check her phone. Neil waited until she looked up, then approached her.

“Excuse me,” he said, watching her watch him. He repressed the urge to turn away and hide from the stares; his burns looked old by now, but the scars were still unsettling for most people. Then, because he knew what he looked like and understood a mother’s protectiveness, he added: “Did you buy those slippers here?”

The woman was taken aback, but she pointed him towards the slippers stall he had dismissed earlier and left as soon as Neil turned away.

“You managed the gear orders with Coach last year,” Neil said to Kevin as soon as he was within earshot. “What shoe size is Dan?”

“Seven.” Then, satisfied, “and I told you to go for foxes.”

Neil batted a hand at him and hurried to the stall. It was blessedly empty, and Neil wasted no time in spotting the pair of padded fox-shaped slippers he’d seen in the little girl’s bags. Dan had been complaining about their cold dorms since November: apparently heat was more or less broken in the girls’ dorm. He bought the pair in the right size, checked that it was in good condition, and jogged back the entrance arch, where he could see Aaron’s blonde hair and Nicky’s yellow scarf glow under the streetlights.

“There you are!” Nicky said as he joined them. He had three more bags in his hand. Neil was pretty sure Erik’s family wasn’t that big and wondered if he would have to go back and get Nicky a gift, too. “And you’ve got new bags, too! Honestly, I thought you’d be the first one to be done with this.”

“I was,” Neil said, but Nicky was already chattering away, opening his bags to show him what he’d bought Erik’s family.

Neil was impressed despite himself: he’d seen each stall three times, but he hadn’t realized how many random little objects they held until Nicky was fishing them out of his bag one by one. Where Neil had seen mugs and keyrings, Nicky found unique pieces and explained in great detail why it would make the perfect gift. Neil began to rethink his previous belief that the warm coat Nicky had given him last year had been a coincidence with the fact he hadn’t had anything warmer than a hoodie in his wardrobe.

Aaron had to physically lead Nicky out of the way of a pole at one point, but they made their way to the car without major incident and all of Nicky’s purchases safely inside his overflowing bags. They stashed their bags in the trunk of the car and quickly got in, relishing the gradually warmer air blowing from the vents. Perhaps Nicky had gotten Neil gloves this year: he hadn’t thought of buying any and he’d gotten used to South Carolina’s mellow winters.

Neil took out his phone when he felt it vibrate in his pocket, unsurprised when he saw it was from Andrew. There were only two words, but Neil smiled when he read them: _I’m hungry_.

 _Back in ten_ , he sent back, and checked to make sure Kevin was holding the donut bag so it didn’t open and roll around the car; he’d promised Andrew, after all.

**Author's Note:**

> my best friend bought me reindeer slippers from canada for christmas and they're the cutest thing since kittens.
> 
> i'm at [jsteneil](http://jsteneil.tumblr.com) on tumblr if you want to talk!


End file.
